Local success

Local game developers say there is still big money to be made in the shadow of the smartphone revolution.

In fact, the world's second most popular smartphone game, Fruit Ninja, was developed by a small Brisbane company.

It has now sold more than 400 million downloads worldwide.

Brisbane game technician Morgan Jaffit says some small businesses are rushing into the vacuum left behind by the large international companies.

"The big advantage that we have now is that because of the opening up of distribution we can build our product, take it to market and see its success and do it on a very short turn around," he said.

The industry is expected to be worth about $80 billion worldwide within three years.

Mr Jaffit says while the number of available jobs in game development has diminished, there are still some opportunities.

"We've moved away from working in what I would style a factory environment, where we're working on intellectual property owned by other people in large companies, towards a home-grown ethos where we build our own IP, our own brands," he said.

"We're just at the start of that growth now and we've lost what used to be the old model of doing business."

Melbourne man Trent Kusters witnessed the collapse of the multinational gaming companies while working as a developer.

He now creates games from his home with likeminded colleagues around the world via the internet as part of an online cooperative.

"I moved out of the studio at some point after about three years and I went overseas and had a bit of a look around at jobs and stuff and then I came back and decided to start my own game development collective and brought on a few other guys," he said.

"I'm sort of working in another studio as well as creative director here in Melbourne and that's been, I guess, the story so far for me."

Next week, the Federal Government will begin handing out $20 million worth of grants and business loans for digital gaming companies in a bid to spark similar initiatives in the next three years.